Striving for excellence in teaching, sharing ideas and strategies, and using technology to engage learners at the elementary level. Working in collaboration with other teachers in an effort to continually learn and grow as educators.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Farewell My Friends - A Note to Fifth Graders

If you have ever stopped by this
blog before, you have probably noticed that I write about my first graders
often. Today, I was thinking about
Tessa. Tessa is a 5th
grader. She’s bright, mild mannered, and
tall. I know that sounds odd, but I have
a soft spot for tall girls because they remind me of my daughter and of
myself. Anyway, Tessa was in my
classroom when she was in first grade.

It occurred to me that I
would soon have to say goodbye to Tessa and her friends as they move on to
middle school. Each year, the teachers
write notes to the 5th graders and they are arranged into memory
books for each student to have as a keepsake.
I was thinking about what I would say to these kids. This is what I would want them to know.

Thank you 5th graders for allowing me to
teach you when you were in first grade.
You were the first, 1st graders that I had ever taught after
having taught third graders for 10 years.
When I agreed to teach first grade, I had no idea I would enjoy it so
much. Because of you, I fell in love
with teaching first graders. I’m not
going to say good-bye, so Farewell my Friends.

What does your
school/building do to celebrate with your 5th graders who are moving
on to middle school? I would love to
know.

6 comments:

i just love that idea of all the teachers writing notes to the 5th graders. What a special gift for them to keep. Our fifth graders enjoy a beautiful slide show culminating all their years from K-5th grade.

i just love that idea of all the teachers writing notes to the 5th graders. What a special gift for them to keep. Our fifth graders enjoy a beautiful slide show culminating all their years from K-5th grade.

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I'm an elemtary school teacher. I love to read and to share the joy of reading with my students. My focus is literacy, and using technology to engage learners at the elementary level. I enjoy exploring ways to use technology to support literacy and learning. I co-host #1stchat on Twitter. I moderate the chat with another teacher and together with an amazing PLN we chat on Sunday nights about all things related to primary education.